My thanks go to Christian Delloiaco for all of our conversations about the deck for the last few weeks. Bodhi Cutler and Marcus Peck too. I took a risk not playing a Virizion EX counter. I took some time to think about the meta game shifting and it paid off.

I spent a lot of time practising Gothitelle/Accelgor for worlds. I literally spent a week before hand where I tested the deck for hours on stream each day, so I’m quite comfortable with the idea of only doing 50 damage and shuffling it away. There are plenty of small nuances to playing it, but you shouldn’t let them scare you off.

Winning with the deck often results in the same story, so I’ll talk about my single loss and a few of my interesting games.

In the round I lost, my opponent’s use of Yeti’s tech options in Keldeo EX and Genesect EX, as well as having access to Snorlax meant that I had to overcome multiple threats which dismantled my setup eventually in the first game – for a few turns I ran out of steam, and that was sufficient enough chance for my opponent to turn the tables. I established a strong lock in game 2, but I ran out of time. When playing against Trevenant always remember: Never Give Up

The game I played against my Top 8 match against was one of the most bizzare games I’ve played. The seriousness of top cut and the seemingly odd deck choice my opponent had me really uneasy. Game 1, I pummelled the Virizion EX with Bangle on Accelgor. Game 2 he didn’t see Virizion EX hit the field all game, but I was trying to keep options ready for its appearance). Otherwise I had to alternate attackers depending on whether he put up Sigilyph or not.

In the top 4 match I played against Blastoise, Silver Bangle is what gave me the edge in the matchup. Being able to threaten a one-hit KO on Keldeo EX, combined with lower energy counts in stage 2 decks due to Professor’s Letter and the ease at which you can re-establish Trevenant throughout the game means that Blastoise has a very difficult time even with the ability to break Paralysis locks with “Rush In”.

We recorded the finals match, so I’ll post that soon. For now, the notes I can make about the mirror are:

1. Many/all of the Pokemon involved tend to create scenarios where you can create Poison KO’s which come back into your turn.
2. Getting a Float Stone onto a Trevenant is super important
3. Remember that you can use your opponent’s Accelgor for Mew EX’s “Versatile” ability.
4. When your opponent has the Item lock, it’s not super important for you to Item lock them back. If you carry a Rainbow Energy in your list, then it may be worth putting your own Trevenant active, but be wary as without Float Stone, your opponent does not have to do anything until you reveal the energy as you cannot retreat.

There are more nuances to the mirror match, but I think it’s best if I wait for the finals footage to commentate.

Well that will just about wrap things up! Thank you very much for reading.

7 comments

I didn’t miss Computer Search, Virbank or wanted more Skyla but would be ok with these.

I think the deck is consistent enough with Computer Search and Bodhi will tell you what we think of Skyla in this deck (I can see myself running Zero).

The shuffle draw from Colress, the larger Ns (because you don’t take prizes until the end ideally) and Juniper is sufficient enough to get your combo pieces and especially Double Colourless Energy, which Skyla cannot net you. I couldn’t blame anyone for running computer search. It can turn your Skyla into a Double colourless energy.

Virbank City is good and bad I’m different ways. Higher damage output is welcome, but can also prematurely break your local and give your opponent a chance to counter. I cut it from my list eventually because I felt it didn’t contribute to establishing the lock. I view it as a ‘Win more’ card, but one that’s easy to include.

Marco May 2, 2014 at 1:36 pm

Hello : I´m Running this deck, and I also Think that the Virbank Gym doesn´t help, there are many player that run Hypnotxic laser so there is no point in use that gym if eventually your opponent will throw into the game and even whitout the Tropical Beaches I can run the lock in the second turn and get to attack in the same or in the third turn.

I can drop out 1 tool scrapper and 1 super if I have 2 Tropical Beach, maybe I will put another Phantump and drop the Hammer, and after the release of flash fire i will get out 1 Shauna and 1 Heavy ball to put 2 Lisandre